Egypt rally to beat Czech Republic in Men's Handball World Championships in Doha, Qatar

Egypt laboured to defeat Czech Republic 27-23 in a tightly contested match of the 24th edition of the Men's Handball World Championships at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah indoor arena, Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday. 

With the win, the African Championship bronze medalists, who have four points from three matches, are third in Group C behind Sweden and France who have six and five points respectively.

It was a tight encounter with the teams settling for a 3-3 draw in the eighth minute. Karim Handawy, the Egyptian goalkeeper, made two crucial saves to enable his team extend the lead 5-3 in the 12th minute during the match watched by Confederation of  African Handball Confederation President Dr Mansourou Aremou.

The North Africans, who have one of the largest following in the competition, stamped their authority to maintain the two-goal lead.

The Czech Republic coach, Jan Phillip called for their first timeout to reorganise his squad in the 12th minute but the Egyptians continued their ferocious attack to extend their lead to 7-3.

Czech's two-time European highest scorer and 2010 World Handball Player of the year Filip Jicha failed to shine in the first half, only scoring only one goal.

The Pharaohs kept their two-goal lead (10-8) in the 23rd minute with the coach seeking for his first technical timeout to cool down.

Four minutes to the break, Czech Republic narrowed down the scores to 11-10 but their joy was short-lived when Egypt scored two more goals  for a 13-10 lead by halftime with Egypt's Ahmed Elahmar netting four goals. 

After the breather, Czech re-organised themselves, scoring three goals for a 13-up tie in the 32nd minute.

Nine minutes later, it was a 15-15 draw but Handawy again was the hero of the moment after making two more saves to enable his team lead 18-16.

Handawy, who plays for AHLY club, was awarded the adidas man of the match for his exemplary performance in the match.

Germany will play their last preliminary match against Sweden today.

In another encounter played at the same venue, Sweden beat Algeria 27-19 to hand the Africans their third defeat. 

In other matches, France beat Iceland 26-25, while Germany forced a 30-30 draw against Denmark.

Poland overcame Russia 26-25, whereas Argentina registered their first win of the competition after beating Saudi Arabia 32-20.